Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling talks with Andy Fesenmeyer, P.E. Project Manager, Division of Highway Design with ConnDOT and other members of the panel during a Public Informational meeting at City Hall about construction projects along !95 in Norwalk and Westport

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling talks with Andy Fesenmeyer, P.E. Project Manager, Division of Highway Design with ConnDOT and other members of the panel during a Public Informational

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Norwalk resident and attorney Frank Murphy has some questions for Don Costello, Project Manager with AECOM a consulting firm during a Public Informational meeting at City Hall about construction projects along !95 in Norwalk and Westport

Hour Photo/Alex von Kleydorff Norwalk resident and attorney Frank Murphy has some questions for Don Costello, Project Manager with AECOM a consulting firm during a Public Informational meeting at City Hall

NORWALK — Point the construction lights down at night, install sound barriers along the roadway and finish work as expeditiously as possible.

On Thursday evening, East Norwalk residents shared their thoughts and concerns about the Connecticut Department of Transportation’s (ConnDOT) planned overhaul of Interstate 95, between the Norwalk River and the east bank of the Saugatuck River in Westport.

“There’s nothing that restricts us from having state funding to put in sound barriers,” said Olmstead Place resident Diane Cece. “Our portion of Norwalk is the only residential portion of Fairfield County without sound barriers (along Interstate 95). And this project starting and continuing, of this magnitude, morning, noon and night is going to affect our quality of life, our home values (and create) noise pollution, light pollution, fine-particulate pollution, the whole bit.”

Cece was among nearly 30 people to attend the public informational meeting held by ConnDOT in the Community Room of City Hall on Thursday evening. The state agency held the meeting — the first of two — to explain the project — and gather public input.

“The main purpose of this project is to reconstruct the existing median area to improve driver safety,” said Project Manager Jeffrey Keefe of AECOM, the consulting engineer engaged by ConnDOT.

Construction is expected to begin in spring 2018 and take two years to complete. The cost will run between $55 million and $70 million, according to ConnDOT.

The work will entail rebuilding the center median and outside shoulders, and resurfacing the highway surface and the ramps at Exits 16 and 17. The median will be rebuilt consistent with other stretches of Interstate 95, resulting in a six-foot wide capped concrete barrier and 12-foot wide inside shoulders, according to ConnDOT.

“The traffic maintenance plan as proposed … will maintain three lanes of traffic at all times except for occasional weekends and off-peak periods where two lanes are proposed,” Keefe said. “The work that would require two lanes would include milling-and-paving operations that strictly would take place at night and the bridgework.”

Third Taxing District Commissioner Deb Goldstein asked ConnDOT to coordinate its work with utility companies such as Eversource Energy to minimize disruptions and take measures to minimize light pollution.

“Is there any way you guys can actually point (construction lighting) down at the road instead of at the oncoming traffic?” Goldstein asked. “It’s like driving into the side of a UFO with those lights.”

As part of the project, the state intends to replace the superstructures of the Strawberry Hill Avenue and Saugatuck Avenue bridges over the highway, and repair the deck and replace expansion joints on the Interstate 95 bridge over the Saugatuck River.

On the Strawberry Hill Avenue bridge, two lanes of traffic will be maintained atop the bridge at all times, but a temporary pedestrian bridge must be built to accommodate those on foot, according to ConnDOT.

ConnDOT officials are considering accelerated and conventional construction methods for the work on the Saugatuck Avenue bridge with work durations of six months and two years, respectively.

The state plans to coordinate the project with the $30 million overhaul of the Yankee Doodle Bridge, which carries Interstate 95 over the Norwalk River.

“There are 140 drains on that bridge. A hundred, I don’t think anybody knows where they drain to, and the other 40 go straight down into the harbor and that is unacceptable,” Mobilia told ConnDOT officials.

Project Manager Andy Fesenmeyer of ConnDOT’s Division of Highway Design said the department will have to obtain a number of regulatory approvals for the project, including obtaining a storm-water permit.

Keefe said water quality basins have been proposed near Hendricks Avenue and several other locations.

Earlier, Mayor Harry W. Rilling asked ConnDOT officials to ensure that the project is coordinated with other local projects to minimize disruption.

“I want to sit down with (project managers) and have a meeting and iron out the timeframe so that they’re not negatively impacting Norwalk … by closing down all our streets at the same time,” Rilling said.

Rilling identified the replacement of the Walk Bridge, work on the Stroffolino Bridge and construction of the planned shopping center known as The SoNo Collection as among the projects that must be coordinated.

ConnDOT has scheduled the second public informational meeting for the Interstate 95 Median Reconstruction and Resurfacing Project for Jan. 13 at Westport Town Hall Auditorium, 110 Myrtle Ave. An open forum will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.